Cannot get an exchange reset for sudden drop from 70 Mbps to 24 Mbps

[michaelkenward]

It took some effort, my Netgear system is still bust, but I have had the BT HomeHub 2 up and running for a couple of days now. No change.

My speed still staggers along at a consistent 24 Mbps, about a third of the top speed I had before this problem started. It is even lower than the minimum guaranteed download speed of 25 Mbps for BT's lesser accounts.

The Hub Manager reveals a Max Observed Downstream Speed of 27.4 Mbps. So something is broken somewhere on the network.

I dread having to grapple yet again with BT's support team, which seems to delight in passing the buck and blaming everyone else for a fault that has suddenly happened with no changes that I can see at my end that would lead to such a dramatic drop in speed.

[imjolly]

can you post stats from the SH2 - advanced settings/technical log information

have you tried connecting direct to test socket with a filter to see if that improves connection speed

[michaelkenward]

I'll play with the plugs later, meanwhile:

I'm more used to the maximum data rate, and often get better.

[licquorice]

There is something seriously wrong with either your line or the DSLAM in the cabinet with a noise margin of 25.2 for downstream but a normal 6.4 for Upstream.

Only an engineer investigation will resolve the issue.

[michaelkenward]

Thanks.

That's what I thought, but when I talked to BT's support team they wanted to pass the buck and the person I first talked to (in Ireland) didn't seem to have any ability to check things at their end. He just passed me on to someone in sales to flog me a broadband backup.

That's why I turned to this place.

In the past the on-line test system has gone trough to the stage where it reported that there is a problem and went on to book an engineer.

I guess this is one of the benefits of the rebranding. Welcome to EE.

[michaelkenward]

You couldn't make this up.

BT/EE sent someone (on contract) who spent about 10 minutes determining that there is no problem on my system. (Took him more than an hour to find us as apparently he doesn't know how postcodes work.)

After trying to run and confirming tests that I have already done on my HomeHub  – thanks to the tips posted here – he used his laptop to find a graph that showed some sort of dropout 10 days ago that coincided with my speed drop.

This told him that the problem was somewhere put on the network. Any reason why they had to send someone to my premises to test the outside line? Doesn't BT/EE have a connection to the same test site?

I have now received a  notification "Your problem has been fixed".

Nothing has changed.

I could use a word to describe that, but this is not the place for obscenities.

In the process, I discovered that BT/EE now has a separate bunch of gophers who go out and check for faults. In the past the system would lead to an OpenReach appointment. No longer.

He also confirmed that BT won't even check faults if I don't use one of its horrible HomeHubs. So, our telecoms supply industry has gone from being a nationalised monopoly to  privatised monolith. Users can just get stuffed.

Again I was told that I am only guaranteed a 25 Mbps connection. The fact that I have had at least twice that speed, sometime nearly thee times  faster, ever since the VDSL service started is irrelevant.

Sounds like a cue to quit this contract and to use my fancy router to connect my office my second line. That connects at around 60 Mbps and can deliver at least 25 Mbps to my office, which is about 20 metres away.

[imjolly]

Did you try connecting to the test so ket with a filter to see if that made any difference to your. Connection?

The person that came to your home was not a BT/EE gopher but a contractor used by openreach. As already said you  need an actual openreach person to solve your fault if connecting to test socket makes no difference 

[michaelkenward]

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@imjollywrote:

Did you try connecting to the test so ket with a filter to see if that made any difference to your. Connection?

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He didn't seem interested in that. But I will certainly give it a whirl. (There may be a dead spider or two in there.) I have done it before. 

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The person that came to your home was not a BT/EE gopher but a contractor used by openreach.

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He did say he was a contractor – I asked because of his anonymous white van – but he led me to believe he was with BT.

He had enough information to escalate it within OpenReach, but instead has it checked as "solved" by BT.

[PaddyB]

Hi @michaelkenward,

Thank you for posting back to update the thread. I'm sorry the contractor wasn't able to get your service repaired. If you send me your details, I can take a look at the fault and I can help to arrange an Openreach engineer if needed.

I have sent you a private message with instructions on how to contact the team.  You can access your messages via the envelope icon at the top right of the screen, or click on this link, Private messages

Thanks,

Paddy

[pippincp]

Likely a Qube engineer, Worse than useless.